Hipsters Ain't What They Used To Be.

[Ian S.]

Lone Star isn't just a hipster beer...I definitely drank my fill of that back in college when I just up the road from you in Wacky Waco. I still think it's a pretty good beer....or maybe it just takes me back to those fun college days! :cool:

[CorvallisCracker]

Here in the valley, I'm pretty sure the hipsters drink Oregon microbrews (broadly defined as anything up to the size of Ninkasi).

I have no idea what they drink up in Portland, but I do know that a lot of the stuff distilled by the small distilleries up there is consumed at the local bars.

[SMOWK]

This is a pretty funny thread. My thoughts:

[Gillman]

Oscar, I remember when craft beers were starting to make some impact (early 80's), big brewers generally were rather dismissive. While craft beers still are a small segment of the total market, they seem to have made a permanent change in the shape of national beer drinking. What do you think of this, when it first started did you think these brews had any real chance? Do you think craft brews ultimately will die away? Is it image driven like I believe most mass market beer drinking is? Where do you see this market going?

Gary

[craigthom]

Lone Star, Stoh's, Blatz, Carling, and a host of others are all owned by the new "Pabst" Brewing Company, so they are probably brewed by Miller, too.

There are very few breweries from the '60s (heck, the '70s) left. If you see a brand around from back then that isn't Bud, Miller, or Coors, chances are someone new(er) owns the name and is having it brewed under contract by someone else.

[MarkEdwards]

I spent a good part of my early twenties drinking Lone Star. The "I saw the armadillo" and "National beer of Texas" campaigns were pretty effective. :cool: I even had a Lone Star belt buckle with the bottle opener on the back side, for a few years.

[Bourbon Boiler]

This is one of the first alcohol-related threads in a long time that has failed to make me crave drinking any.

[Special Reserve]

I downed plenty of PBR's back in the 60's while bailing hay or straw. We didn't drink high on the hog, that's for sure.

[Vosgar]

PBR.........brings back fond memories of the mid-70's. My buddies and I would go to the small town summer fairs in southern Wisconsin and the beverage of choice in the beer tent was usually Pabst. We didn't mind at all, you could buy 3 - 7oz shorties for $1. Five bucks bought you a good time, 10 was trouble.

Aw hell, now I feel old.

Gary

[DeanSheen]

Ahh dont feel bad Gary.

When I was a kid my dad drank long neck PBR. I remember going with my mom to the store to return the bottles and buy another case. PBR used to come with bottles you had to pay a deposit on in these really thick cardboard cases.

But you were probably drinking these:

[cowdery]

Old Style is one of their brands too. Long Chicago's favorite beer. I buy it from time to time. There are just so many of those defunct local and regional beers. G. Heileman of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, also made a beer called Special Export. I remember Sterling and Falls City from my Louisville days, Burger and Schoenling and others from my Cincinnati-area days. My Mom drank Carling's Black Label, which sponsored the Indians games. Before that her family drank Erin, because my great-grandfather was the bookkeeper at Standard Brewery in Cleveland. My favorite cheap beer was P.O.C. at 99 cents for a six pack. It officially meant Pilsner On Call but to us it was Piss Outa Cleveland. Ah, beer nostalgia.

[MarkEdwards]

Ah, beer nostalgia.

Yep, I still remember my dad drinking Schlitz from a can that needed a church-key opener. No wimpy pop tabs in the day. :cool:

[craigthom]

"Pabst" also "makes" Special Export now.

I noticed when I moved to Louisville that a lot of neighborhood bars still proudly displayed their Falls City signs, the same way that so many in Milwaukee have old Blatz signs.

There's a new Falls City beer. It's also owned by someone who bought the name and is having it contract brewed, but it's not "Pabst", and they've allegedly changed the recipe to an ale. I say allegedly because it still tastes like a standard American Pilsner to me. It's showing up all over town. I've had one, so I consider my duty fulfilled.

[doubleblank]

My buddy Jeff E and I have a Monday happy hour ritual. $1 pints of Lone Star at a bar called Stats. Hip and cheap at the same time.......takes experience to pull that off. Jeff is a long time Miller Lite drinker and prefers his Lone Star these days.

Randy

[pepcycle]

Tangential to this thread is the disappearance of pitchers of beer.

Most Craft and Micros are pint only operations.

Most bars have followed with pints for tap and everything else in cans or bottles.

(If you're going to drink a PBR and be hip, you don't want to pour it into a glass and have someone else mistake it for a Sam Adams or Stella)

I think the last holdout of pitchers is the College Watering Hole where the wait at the bar is too long.

BTW: I know all the words to Red Necks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer. My dad's collar couldn't be bluer and wide mouth bottles are still sacrilege

[AaronWF]

Tangential to this thread is the disappearance of pitchers of beer.

Most Craft and Micros are pint only operations.

[stevegoz]

Most bars that have attached breweries (or breweries with attached bars) favor the growler. I can't recall how much liquid they hold, but it's basically a glass jug of beer you can buy to take home or drink at the bar.

I think most sports bars around me still serve pitchers, but it's mostly piss beer they're offering.

[MarkEdwards]

Growlers are generally half-gallon, and meant to be taken elsewhere. In our state, they're supposed to be sealed with a plastic shrinkwrap around the cap according to one bartender I've talked to, though this is not the practice everywhere. (Which is why I asked a bartender about it....)

[unclebunk]

Tangential to this thread is the disappearance of pitchers of beer.

Most Craft and Micros are pint only operations.

Most bars have followed with pints for tap and everything else in cans or bottles.

(If you're going to drink a PBR and be hip, you don't want to pour it into a glass and have someone else mistake it for a Sam Adams or Stella)

I think the last holdout of pitchers is the College Watering Hole where the wait at the bar is too long.

I go to a local blues bar every Thursday night where they still have pitchers of Miller High Life for $10 which makes for a cheap night out for me. Sam Adams pitchers are $15 but I tend to stick with the High Life so that I have enough money in my pocket for the $1.50 shots of Wild Turkey. I can get soaking wet for $20. Not bad, eh?

[cowdery]

I was in Murphy's Bleachers the other day (the bar right across from the Wrigley Field bleacher entrance) and they still offer pitchers of everything on tap, which includes some good micros and imports.

[craigthom]

The two microbrewery "tasting rooms" that I've spent the most time in, Tyranena in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, and Bluegrass Brewing Company in Louisville both sell pitchers.

Both are at the microbreweries and both sell just their own beer, no food or soft drinks or liquor. In addition to pints, pitchers, and growlers to go, Tyranena also sells liters. Boy, howdy.

(I am talking about the Bluegrass Brewing Company that has a brewery and sells packaged beer, not the one that operates the three brewpubs. They are separate operations, although I'm sure that wasn't always the case.)

I've also been to a few places in Atlanta that serve pitchers of craft beers.

[tmckenzie]

still can't beat miller ponies on a hot afternoon. they just ain't sold in New York, that I have seen.

[Josh]

Nothing better than a cold 40 oz of Mickey's on a hot summer day.

"40 in my lap and it's freezin' my...":lol:

[OscarV]

Yep, I still remember my dad drinking Schlitz from a can that needed a church-key opener. No wimpy pop tabs in the day. :cool:

[QUOTE][/QUOTE]

And Schlitz was some damn good beer.

[gt1jimi]

What is Red Stag's target demographic? I know it's not us (I usually don't like to lump an entire board in one group, but I feel safe with this one.), but I can't figure out who it's supposed to be.

Most alcohol producers have been rolling out products with a sweeter taste to appeal to a generation and demographic that was raised on sugary soft drinks. So, the hard ciders, hard lemonades, and now cherry-flavored bourbons are aimed at the palates that like that stuff. I would assume that the new Jack Daniel's Honey-flavored is designed for the same crowd. Hey, we can only hope that, after starting on that stuff, some will graduate to more traditional bourbons.

On the other hand, we are living in one of the Golden Ages of Bourbon, so if selling Red Stag allows Beam to keep making Single Barrel whiskeys, then I am all for it. As long as there is enough to go around, I say Drink What You Like.